1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a loudspeaker system which increases the size of the best listening area and, more particularly, to a loudspeaker system which broadcasts sound into a broader sonic cone by angling the speakers with respect to each other and which is particularly suitable for a television.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional loudspeaker 10, as illustrated in FIG. 1, includes a speaker cabinet 12 and one or more speakers 14 and 16 having a sound radiation axis extending forwardly and generally perpendicular to the front face 18 of the cabinet 12. Such a loudspeaker 10 produces a relatively narrow sonic cone in which the sound can be adequately heard. When a pair of loudspeakers 10 is incorporated into a television system 20 including a television 22, the sound radiated from each speaker 10 in the system produces a pattern, as illustrated by the one-dot chain lines of FIG. 3. The best listening area in such a system is the shaded area where the sound patterns from the right and left speakers overlap. When a person is positioned in the shaded listening area, the sound image is properly localized with respect to the television 22, that is, the person hears the sound from the television as if it were radiated from the screen of the television. In such a conventional system, the shaded area of FIG. 3 is very narrow, requiring that everyone watching the television be crowded into the narrow listening area to obtain the best sound localization. If a person is positioned outside the shaded area, the person hears only the sound radiated from the closest speaker, and, as a result, the sound image is separate or dislocated from the television screen. Such a dislocation is annoying to the viewer. In addition, because the broadcast pattern for an individual speaker is different for high and low frequency sound, the perceived spread or presence of the sound is not good, particularly on the edges of the best listening area.